It is standard to receive a notice when an employer wishes to end an employment relation. This notice must grant a reasonable amount of time for the employee to find a comparable job. Alternatively, the employer may provide the employee payment equivalent to the amount the employee would have earned during the notice period, inclusive of all benefits, in lieu of a notice period. When an employer fails to provide notice, then the employee may litigate to receive the notice pay for the breach of contract. The length of the notice period or pay in lieu must consider certain factors, such as age, position, length of service and labour market conditions. Overall, notice period is intended to place an employee in a comparable position had there been no termination. However, employees may also face harsh treatment from employers wishing they resign, in hopes the employee leaves voluntarily – be mindful that an employee may still seek notice damages in this instance. If the time leading to dismissal and manner of dismissal itself caused significant hardship, employees may be owed additional compensation in aggravated and/or punitive damages.

Aggravated damages are awarded as additional compensation to the employee when it can be established that the manner of dismissal was done in bad faith, and that the breach of contract caused mental distress or damages to reputation as it relates to future employment opportunities. Bad faith conduct may include being extremely insensitive or untruthful in the dismissal process. Further, the employee must be able to prove that damages such as mental distress were also suffered. For instance, it is not enough to claim mental distress or psychological harm. Rather, there must be evidence that proves mental distress was suffered during the course of dismissal.

Punitive Damages are awarded to the employee to punish the employer for actions during the dismissal that the courts find exceptionally indecent. For punitive damages to be awarded, there needs to be an ‘independent actionable wrong’ such as a breach of good faith. To be clear, these are additional wrongs committed by the employer, independent of the breach of contract. There also may be punitive damages awarded if it is determined that the employer’s misconduct was so malicious that it offends the court’s sense of decency – an example being an employer exploiting an employee’s disability in attempt to force them to quit. Depending on the wrongs committed, damages may range from $10 000 – $450 000. It is important to note that punitive damages require wrongs that are exceptionally reprehensible, and are thus rarely awarded. An employment law expert will be able to assess the possibility of receiving such damages.

Overall, when facing a dismissal that caused exceptional difficulty, it is advisable to seek the assistance of an employment lawyer. It may be the case that notice pay does not fairly compensate the harm suffered, and additional damages will need to be pursued.